Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Rankesberwe 1227 ClR

• Rankesborowe Hill 1610 Speed

• Rankesbro Hill 1780 Map

• Ranksborough Hill 1801 ib

Etymology

RANKSBOROUGH, RANKSBOROUGH HILL, RANKSBOROUGH GORSE, Rankesberwe 1227 ClR, Rankesborowe Hill 1610 Speed, Rankesbro Hill 1780 Map, Ranksborough Hill 1801 ib, cf. Ranksborough Hill Covert c1800, 1806 ib, 'Ranc's barrow or hill', v. beorg , cf. Ronksley Db. The OE  pers.n. Ranc is a by-name, cf. OE  ranc 'proud, noble'. Ranksborough Hill is an imposing eminence on the county boundary and has given its name to a small settlement lying between the hill and Langham. Ranksborough is one of a series of names in beorg surviving in the boundary parishes of Rutland. It is possible that it records the secondary burial of a pagan Anglo-Saxon called Ranc in a prehistoric barrow on the hill-top, cf. Budborow in Greetham f.ns. (b).